Mideast foes want details from envoy

New U.S. mediator seen as forceful and innovative

November 21, 2001|By Hugh Dellios, Tribune foreign correspondent.

JERUSALEM — On notice that the United States plans a renewed engagement in Mideast peacemaking, the Israelis and Palestinians on Tuesday began weighing the possible impact of a U.S. Marine being dispatched as the new American mediator.

Retired Gen. Anthony Zinni, a straight-talking and innovative commander known for tough assignments in Vietnam, Somalia and Iraq, is scheduled to arrive as early as Sunday to be the Bush administration's new eye-on-the-ground in the Mideast.

The urgency to Zinni's mission was underscored before dawn Tuesday when Israeli soldiers were fired on in the Gaza Strip, allegedly by Palestinian militants, and the Israeli army responded by demolishing as many as 18 Palestinian houses. Three Palestinians were wounded.

In Hebron, Israel's army confirmed it had approved the building of more permanent Jewish settler homes, a day after U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell called for an end to all such settlement activity in Palestinian areas.

Both Israeli and Palestinian leaders said they welcomed Powell's speech, in which he laid out the Bush administration's vision for ending more than a year of fighting and creating a viable Palestinian state next to a secure Israel. But each side expressed disappointment that the speech Monday was short on details.

Powell called on each side to heed the truce steps laid out in the Mitchell Commission report released last spring. But officials said it gave no hint of how the U.S. will try to bridge the gap after nearly 14 months of bloodshed that has cost some 900 lives.

"We appreciate the re-engagement of the American administration in the Mideast, but I hope Mr. Zinni is coming with specific mechanisms and timelines," said Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian negotiator. "I had hoped to hear `OK, at 12 midnight on Nov. 24 or Nov. 26, the clock will start ticking.'"

Otherwise, the Palestinians were pleased with the speech, in which Powell leveled rare criticism of Israel's "occupation" of the West Bank and Gaza. The Israelis were pleased that Powell called for an immediate halt to Palestinian attacks and an end to incitement in the Palestinian media.

For months, the Mitchell plan has been stalled between Israel's insistence on a complete cessation of violence before peace talks and the Palestinians' warning that their people need hope for improved lives before agreeing to end their uprising. Western diplomats said Tuesday that the Powell speech was intended to assure the Palestinians that laying down their arms would pay off.

Powell speech an incentive

"In a way, Powell's speech provides the political incentive that the Palestinians need and the Israelis can't provide at this point," one diplomat said. "That's what [Assistant Secretary of State William] Burns and Zinni will be building on. We now have very, very high expectations."

Zinni, 57, has nearly a decade of experience in the Mideast. During the 1990s, he was chief of the U.S. Central Command, which stretches from northeast Africa to the Persian Gulf and gave him a leading role in the gulf war and humanitarian missions in Somalia and northern Iraq.

The former four-star general studied Arabic and traveled extensively throughout the Mideast, befriending military and political leaders who now hold prominent positions in the region.

Zinni had done the same earlier in his career in Vietnam, where he learned the language and lived among the people, developing an appreciation for what he has described as the larger cultural and political context for successful military action.

Zinni reshaped use of force

Described as thoughtful but forceful, he was known for questioning conventional military doctrine and helping rethink how to apply American force. In Somalia, he reportedly experimented with using less-lethal means such as sticky foam and beanbag guns to control unruly Somali crowds.

"If you constrain yourself to military thinking and military learning, you're going to be fairly narrow," Zinni told an interviewer in 1998. "More and more, senior officers have to be a blend of diplomat, statesman, humanitarian."

Israelis raised concerns Tuesday about Zinni's many ties to the Arabs. A story in Ma'ariv newspaper headlined "General Zinni, Friend of the Saudis" said "friends of Israel" are worried he would be "more attentive to the Arab side."

Zalman Shoval, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, rejected the criticism. He said the leaders of Israel's military establishment know Zinni well and offer "nothing but praise." He said Zinni and Sharon may find a lot in common as fellow retired generals.

"They may have similar mind-sets, not bothering with diplomatic niceties," he said.

Others were skeptical that Zinni would succeed where so many other mediators have failed in the Mideast.

"Gen. Zinni--a controversial figure among Israel's friends--joins a long line of people who tried to bring a solution to the dispute nearer," wrote Nahum Barnea, a columnist for Yediot Ahronot. "Most of them left here with an empty suitcase."

Also Tuesday, Amnesty International accused Israel of increasingly using torture in interrogating Palestinian prisoners, despite a 1999 court ruling that banned sleep deprivation and other controversial methods. The charge was made in a report to the United Nations Committee on Torture.

An Israeli official denied the charge, saying that torture was outlawed in the country in 1977 and that force is used only "in isolated cases" such as during an attempt to prevent an imminent terrorist attack.